Expert advice on rods, lures and more for getting big bass

Lawrence Taylor

Friday

Feb 18, 2011 at 12:01 AMFeb 18, 2011 at 6:01 PM

Some bass fishermen just love to catch fish — it doesn’t matter if it’s a dink or a hawg, they just want to feel that tug on the line. Then there are those guys who won’t look twice at a 5-pounder. They want giants, bass weighing 10 pounds or more.

Some bass fishermen just love to catch fish — it doesn’t matter if it’s a dink or a hawg, they just want to feel that tug on the line.

Then there are those guys who won’t look twice at a 5-pounder. They want giants, bass weighing 10 pounds or more.

Lure designer Mitch Looper is one of those guys. He believes that every trip will be the one when he catches the biggest bass of his life. He fishes public lakes, many of them smaller city watersheds that most anglers drive past on the way to more popular water.

Looper knows, though, that there are big bass in nearly every decent-size body of water, and the 14-pounder he brought to the boat several years ago still ranks as one of the biggest pure Northern strain bass ever caught.

“Some of the most important considerations when fishing for real giants are using equipment that stands up to the abuse big ones can dish out, timing your trip for when those monsters want to feed and using a lure that appeals to big bass," Looper said.

Equipment

Looper uses the best-quality rods and reels he can, even using lightweight saltwater gear at times. He prefers a stout, medium-heavy to heavy rod with a fast tip to set the hook on a 10-pounder. Despite popular opinion to the contrary, Looper still uses a copolymer line.

“I don’t like braid because there’s no stretch, and you need it when you set the hook,” he said. “A lot of people just don’t realize how strong big bass are, and you can shatter rods and break lures, as well as the line, when setting the hook on a really big one.”

Timing

Bass are biggest in the spring, so Looper starts fishing for big bass during the early prespawn. But instead of just heading out when the sun shines, many of his trips begin by rising at 2 a.m., even when temperatures are in the upper 30s and 40s. His 30 years of experience taught him that during the early prespawn, giant bass bite from about 3:30 a.m. until just after sunrise.

Looper’s all about maximizing his fishing efforts. He won’t fish unless several factors come together. He looks for weather fronts, moon phases and other factors to prompt him to set the alarm. He looks at the same factors for daytime fishing.

Lures

Looper uses two different lures for giant bass, one for night fishing and the other for daytime, and they’re both jigs.

For his night fishing he uses a ¾-ounce jig made for fishing in weeds, like the Booyah A-Jig, which features a pointed head that easily slides through the grass. His trailer is a 4-inch soft plastic craw.

His daytime jig normally is of his own design, now also manufactured by Booyah as the Swim’n Jig. He’s very specific with the trailer on this one: He uses the Yum Money Craw because it prompts the jig to sway back and forth during his high-speed retrieve.

“The jig is the very best big-bass lure there is,” he said. “A strong, single hook holds the fish better than one with multiple trebles, and big bass just seem to like it better than other lures.”

Looper will throw a soft swimbait during midday in the springtime, but he always uses one at least 5 inches long. He’ll throw it on a weighted hook when fishing shallow and on a jighead when he works deeper off-shore structure.

Springtime is the best time to catch a giant bass. Use the 30 years of experience behind Looper’s advice and get the mindset that she’s gonna bite on the very next cast.